Is This Arrest Going To Wreck The Case Against The Officer Who Killed Philando Castile?

The woman who famously posted a viral Facebook Live video of her concealed-carrying boyfriend dying after being shot by a Minnesota officer during a traffic stop just took to a substantial hit to her credibility as a witness with a violent felony arrest.

Diamond Reynolds was in Ramsey County Court Monday for a bail hearing in a case in which she’s alleged to have beaten a woman over the head with a hammer.

The 27-year-old Reynolds is the former girlfriend of Philando Castile, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop in St. Anthony over the summer.

Reynolds was charged Friday with felony counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault causing substantial bodily harm.

Reynolds attorney, Karlowba Adams Powell, argued in court Monday for a lower bail, saying Reynolds didn’t have felony convictions or a violent history. Outside the courtroom, Adams Powell said Reynolds will ultimately enter a plea of not guilty.

However, a check of police records in St. Paul showed Reynolds has had several contacts with police either as a victim, suspect, witness or arrestee.

Reynolds was arrested in 2008 for assault with a dangerous weapon on Canton Street in St. Paul. The report in that incident says she and her mother, Dafina Dota, were in a room when a man was allegedly duct-taped, sodomized and beaten. Reynolds was arrested but later released. No charges were filed against either Reynolds or her mother, and they were deemed witnesses to that crime.

She sounds like a lovely person, doesn’t she?

The attorney for St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez is no doubt trying to try to find a way to impeach Reynolds credibility using her arrest record against her. This would seem to boost Yanez’s defense, but without details on exactly how much the prosecutors planned on using Reynolds as a witness, it’s difficult to determine how much her arrest will affect the case against Yanez.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com.
Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun.
He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.
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